Team

XXVIII

"The news is loving you guys. Nobody else is."

Maria's voice filled the silent quinjet as Sofia looked at her team members who were one second away from being a mess. Everyone was unsettled, and even though Tony and herself were spared by Wanda this time, they still went through similar trauma earlier, but both were helpless to do much.

"There's been no official call for Banner's arrest, but it's in the air." Maria continued as Sofia's worried gaze fell on her father as she walked up to him, passing Thor as she laid a fleeting hand of comfort on his shoulder.

"The Stark Relief Foundation?" She said as she reached the monitor through which Tony was speaking with the former spy.

"Already on the scene. How's the team?" She asked as Tony and Sofia exchanged yet another concerned glance as both almost simultaneously looked at their traumatized team members.

"Everyone's....... we took a hit. We'll shake it off." Tony said as he watched Sofia go up to the cockpit where Clint was manning the wheel.

"Well for now I'd stay in stealth mode and stay away from here." Maria said as Sofia stood beside the archer, not saying anything, just listening to the conversation.

"So run and hide?" Tony concluded as Maria sighed.

"Until we can find Ultron, I don't have a lot else to offer." She said apologetically as Tony nodded.

"Neither do we." He said as Maria switched off the call.

"You heading where I think you are?" Sofia lowly said as Clint didn't respond as Tony walked up to them.

"Hey wanna switch out?" He asked the archer who shook his head, "No I'm good. If you want to get some kip now's a good time because we're still a few hours out." He said back to the billionaire who looked confused.

"Few hours from where?" He questioned as Clint looked at Sofia knowingly.

"A safe house."

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This wasn't how Sofia had imagined meeting Clint's family after all the fiasco that went down in DC. The archer had promised that once the dust had settled, he would properly tour her around the whole property and she could even babysit his kids if she liked (She liked the thought too much, which made him slightly worried) and could feed the goats and do whatever her heart desired without fearing judgment from the world. But now, all she could think about was not fall down on the grass as soon as the quinjet touched down.

Gripping her side tightly – most likely broken ribs, how come she didn't feel the ribs breaking during the fight? – she and Tony helped each other come down the jet, as Sofia looked behind and saw Clint helping Natasha come down – the poor woman was still out of it – and Steve and Bruce leading up the row at the back. She had never seen such defeated looks on those cheerful faces, and that broke her heart. Knowing just how much the whole team was laughing and enjoying themselves less than a week ago wasn't helping either.

"What is this place?" Thor said as he walked up beside Sofia and Tony as the latter looked around in confusion.

"Safe house." He said, as Clint looked at them.

"Let's hope." He said as he opened the house, the group entering behind him.

"Honey? I'm home!" He called out as a pregnant woman came out from behind one of the doors, shock and surprise written all over her face as she looked at Clint. "Hi, company. Sorry, didn't call ahead." Clint said as he rushed towards her, hugging her and kissing her once as Tony looked around.

"This is an agent of some kind." He said, as if trying to decipher the new variable in the list of variables as Sofia rolled her eyes, lightly smacking him on the arm as he gave her a questioning look.

"Gentlemen, Sofia this is Laura." Clint said as Laura shyly waved.

"I know all your names." She said as her eyes fell on Sofia's. "Thanks for bailing us out in DC." She said as Sofia softly smiled and nodded, ignoring her father's inquisitive look as he gave a distracted wave back to Laura as Clint picked up on the sound of loud footsteps.

"Ooh incoming." He said, crouching down just as two kids – a girl and a boy- came crashing into him. "Hi sweetheart, hey buddy!" as Clint showered his children with love, Steve awkwardly nodded, while Tony still looked confused.

"These are smaller agents." He said as a warm feeling grew in his heart, as seeing Clint with his young daughter brought back memories of him with baby Sofia, but it soon got crushed down as he soon remembered all the times he wasn't there for her.

"Did you bring Auntie Nat?" He was broken out of his thoughts when he heard the little girl speak, as he saw Natasha look up.

Steve could practically see the wall she put around her as Natasha walked up to the kids as soon as she was mentioned. "Why don't you hug her and find out?" She said, crouching down to hug the girl.

"Did you also bring Sofia? I didn't get to meet her last time but Lila did!" The boy said, looking at Clint excitedly as Sofia laughed, once again ignoring her father's pointed look as she walked up to the little boy tapping him on the shoulder. "Looking for me buddy?" She said as Cooper laughed and jumped on her as she went wobbly for a bit but Clint stabilized her, "Careful kiddo don't want her running away the first day huh? She won't be back for babysitting anymore then!" Clint joked as Cooper's eyes widened and he came down on the ground as Sofia laughed.

"Nonsense! Now that I know this young man and lady- " She said, motioning to Lila who beamed when mentioned "- I'll be coming every week." She said as both the kids cheered and ran off.

Steve cleared his throat , "Sorry for barging in on you." He said as snarky Tony came into play.

"Yeah, we would have called ahead, but we were busy having no idea you existed." He said, looking at Sofia pointedly as he stood in front of her, her having no other option but to innocently smile back.

"Yeah, well Fury and Elena helped me set this up soon after I joined. They'd kept it off SHIELD records; I'd like to keep it this way. I figured it was a good place to lay low." He said, maintaining a low tone of a threat at the end as Steve's jaw clenched. Just how many secrets did his daughter keep from him? His thoughts were directed to the real world when he heard a crunching sound and looked down to see Thor had broken some toys of the kids' as he tried to shuffle it all beside him but failed.

"How's little Natasha huh?" Natasha said as she leaned over at Laura's pregnant belly as Laura smiled apologetically.

"She's...... Leon." She said as Sofia whooped, holding her hand out towards Natasha as she glared at the belly playfully, saying "Traitor" as Clint chuckled.

"Did you seriously place a bet on my kid's gender?" He asked the two as they nodded. "Elena was in it too, she's the one who placed the bet. Who ever won would be the name inspiration. God she'll love it!" She said as Laura chuckled.

Suddenly Thor walked out the room, Steve following him. Everyone took it as a sign to disperse as Laura guided Natasha and Bruce into the upper floor. Sofia thought it was a time to discuss the issues with her father, but he too went with Clint, leaving her alone as she sighed looking at the empty room in front of her.

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